A Music Blog by Vanessa Furtado

Month: October 2015

Adam said “Eve, now listen to me.
Anything you want you can have.
So be a good girl, and let’s make a deal.
Swimming pool and four car garage.
The world is your friend.
The door’s opening.
Anything you want that you need.
Whoever you need, they’re acting so sweet.
Money changes everything!”

I can’t remember the first time I listened to The Staves but I know it was definitely one of those live outdoor acoustic sets on Youtube; they were standing outside, it looked picturesque and the music was more than I imagined. There was something from the moment those musical vibrations filtered through my ear that I knew it was essential to look up another video then to another and another. I knew it was in those moments that I was taken away to somewhere else, somewhere wonderful and I didn’t want to go back.

As I sit here, I am currently listening to their newest record, “If I Was”, a little late to the party as usual, I am still entranced by the song that just ended, ‘Damn It All’. While there is no connecting musical link between the songs as seen on some albums, the tracks seem to bond with one another even if they aren’t meant to aesthetically. Perhaps it’s general calm but powerful tone that emanates off The Staves, but it is definitely visible in each vocal melody and harmony and with each slow strum of a guitar or tap of the tambourine.

The next track playing now is ‘Horizons’ and I just know I need to learn this on the piano. Unfortunately it seems there is no sheet music to be found but nonetheless I will figure out how to transfer chords over to sheet music or something of the like, but back to the album! With this one, while not all the tracks catch my ear as easy as some, the ones that stand more prominently in mind than the rest, include Black & White, Horizons, and Teeth White.

All in all, if you like folksy rock with a hint of an almost nature-infused melody then The Staves’s newest album is for you – A mixture of calm, cool, and collected with that rock grit so many know and love.